Ahead of the visit, Israel's ambassador to Britain Zvi Stauber said: "The expectation is that the trip will give a new impetus to relations between Israel and Britain which ... to the regret of both sides, have experienced some grating misunderstandings in recent months."

The 13 months since Mr Sharon's last visit to London in June 2002 have seen relations between the two countries come under strain on a number of occasions.

The Israeli government was infuriated when Mr Blair met Israeli Labour leader Amram Mitzna in the run up to the Israeli elections but refused to see the then foreign minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Sharon in turn banned Palestinian delegates from travelling to London to attend a peace conference organised by the Foreign Office.

Mr Sharon himself, speaking ahead of the trip, accused Palestinian president Yasser Arafat of interfering with the work of his own, moderate prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, and urged European leaders to cut ties to the embattled Palestinian leader.

"Every act of this nature only postpones the progress in the process," Mr Sharon said. An aide said Israel might have to re-examine deporting Mr Arafat if he kept trying to "scuttle the peace process".

Mr Arafat has been partly sidelined since Mr Abbas became premier in April. But he retains considerable powers and remains the most popular Palestinian leader. Mr Abbas threatened to resign as prime minister this week unless Mr Arafat's Fatah movement endorsed his handling of contacts with Israel.